The Three Towers Trail Network officially opens Saturday in the north end of the city.
Connie Hergott, Program Director with the North Bay Mountain Bike Association says they have close to five km of trails and a pump track at the very end of Tower Drive.
“It’s at the site of the historical Widdifield fire tower and the features there are fantastic for offering all mountain bikers different experiences,” she says. “There’s fast and flowy, there’s a lot of big granite slabs to bike on. We have a lot of technical track with a lot of rocky features and punchy climbs.”
Hergott says her personal favourite is the trail to Hillside Lake.
“The view there is spectacular,” she says.
Additional trails have also been mapped and will be built next spring.
Hergott says despite the pandemic a lot has been achieved.
“The pandemic has actually been a blessing to us because a lot of families aren’t driving their kids to soccer and hockey, or weren’t prior to now, so they had all the free time in the world to come and lend us a hand at building the trails,” she says.
The Association also organized weekly group rides, hosted a mountain bike exchange bringing female mountain bikers from all over the province to the city and they increased their membership from 160 to over 280.
“We certainly couldn’t be where we are without the labour and creativity of the volunteers,” Hergott says. “We have a kiosk up with maps and signage all throughout the trail system now, all done by volunteers.”
She says they received a grant from Destination Ontario to pay for all of the maps and signage.
The association is hosting a grand opening celebration of the Three Towers Trail Network from 10 am to 12 noon on Saturday.
